An electronic apparatus comprising a collapsible display conceived to be alternated between a collapsed state upon storage and an extended state during use is known in the art. For instance, such apparatus may relate to a mobile phone or an organizer, wherein the display is arranged as a flexible and collapsible body providing a compact structure in a stand-by state and a device with an increased display area during use. The collapsible display may be stored in a housing of the electronic apparatus, for example it may be rolled about a suitable roller. Alternatively, the collapsible display may be wrapped about a housing of the electronic apparatus.
The thinner the display, the more compact it can be arranged. In practice it has been found that the minimum radius to which the display can be rolled is approximately 50 times the thickness of the display. If it is attempted to roll the display to a smaller radius, the various functional layers of the display tend to shift with respect to each other, and even may break due to stress. This renders the display unusable. In particular this applies for displays in which various functional layers require good alignment with respect to each other, like for example alignment between a pixel electrode layer and a color filter layer.
It is desirable that a touch screen is integrated with the display. This allows the user to intuitively interact with the device.
FIG. 10 (prior art) shows a panel comprising an integrated OLED display and touch screen as proposed in US2004/0080267 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,879,319B2). Both the OLED display 14, 12, 16, and 22 and the touch screen 52, 54, 58, and 60 have light blocking elements resp. 23, 56 extending to an edge. The OLED display has an encapsulating cover 36 mounted by an adhesive 70 located between the light blocking elements 23, 56 of the OLED display and the touch screen. The OLED display is arranged at a substrate 20 of glass or plastic.
The OLED display device includes a substrate 20, drivers 23 located at the periphery of the substrate, thin-film transistors (TFTs) 22, an electrode 14, an organic light-emitting layer 12, a second electrode 16, and an encapsulating cover 36. A resistive-wire touch screen is constructed upon the encapsulating cover 36 and includes the resistive layer 52, spacer dots 54, flexible top layer 60, and the electrically conductive layer 58.